Leaving a Choice for Others: Children’s Evaluation of Considerate Actions

• In Event: 1-147 - Keeping Others in Mind: New Evidence for Selective and Effective Prosociality in Toddlers and Young Children

Integrative Statement

From infancy, children evaluate others’ prosocial actions (Hamlin et al., 2007). Adults not only evaluate prosocial actions that involve direct transferal of resources, service or information between individuals (Tomasello, 2008) but also evaluate indirect prosocial actions where actions that benefit the self may also be considerate to others. Here we examine the developmental origin and cultural dependency of this intuition among children in both the U.S. and China—two cultures where people have different construals of interdependence between individuals (Markus & Kitayama,1991).

In Study 1, 72 U.S. children, 72 Chinese children (Age: 4–6), 33 U.S. adults, and 34 Chinese adults heard about two separate scenarios where Sophie waited in a “snack line” twice, each time behind one of her friends. Each friend chose one fruit of three (e.g. two apples and one banana). The “considerate” friend took one of the two alike items (e.g. one apple), leaving Sophie a choice; the “inconsiderate” friend took the unique item (e.g. the only banana), leaving Sophie no choice (See Figure 1a). Participants were then asked who was a “nicer friend.” Adults in both cultures favored the friend who left a choice (U.S.:97%, China:92%, p’s<.001). Logistic regressions revealed that children favored the “considerate” friend increasingly with age (U.S.: p=.016, China: p=.12), with six-year-olds in both cultures selecting the considerate friend above chance (U.S.:79%, China:83%, p’s<.05). There were no cultural differences.

In Study 2, we investigated whether children base their judgments on outcomes or intentions. Sixty-seven U.S. adults, 73 Chinese adults, 180 U.S. children and 180 Chinese children (Age: 4 – 6) participated in one of two conditions, each of which presented two scenarios with identical outcomes, yet one scenario revealed the agent’s intentions, whereas the other provided no such information. In the Considerate/Neutral condition, both agents left a choice for Sophie; however, one of them could have been inconsiderate but took one apple from two apples and one banana, thus was intentionally considerate, whereas the other simply took one of three unique items. In both cultures, most adults (U.S.: 88%, China: 92%, p’s<.001) and six-year-olds (U.S.:70%, China: 73%, p’s<.05) favored the considerate character over the neutral character. Similarly, in the Inconsiderate/Neutral condition, both agents left no choice for Sophie; however, one of them took the only apple from two bananas and one apple, thus was intentionally inconsiderate, whereas the other simply took one of three bananas. Most adults (U.S.:79%, China:81%, p’s<.001) and six-year-olds (U.S.:70%, China:70%, p’s=.04) favored the neutral character over the inconsiderate character. Again, there were no cultural differences.

These findings suggest that by age 6, both U.S. and Chinese children view leaving others with the freedom to choose as a prosocial act. Even when such actions are ultimately intended to fulfill one’s own goal, children make nuanced judgments about the actor’s underlying consideration for others. Our findings help reveal the culturally universal social-cognitive capacities that underlie this intuition.

Authors

• Xin (Alice) Zhao, Cornell University
  Presenting Author

• Xuan Zhao, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hyowon Gweon, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tamar Kushnir, Cornell University
  Non-Presenting Author